Addressing the Workforce Gap Will Be Presented at Techfest Louisville

Join TALK and its constituents at Techfest Louisville on Aug. 16th for a look at “The State’s Cybersecurity Pathway for Teens and What is Ahead.” For more sessions, go to www.techfestlou.com to see the schedule on the homepage.

Day 1–Aug. 16th at the Pendennis Club – 3:00 PM, 2nd Floor

Cybersecurity Education Track “The State’s Cybersecurity Pathway for Teens and What is Ahead” | Co-Presenters: Scott U’Sellis, Information Technology & Media Arts Consultant, KY Department of Education and Ryan Deal, Business and IT College and Career Readiness Specialist, Jefferson County Public Schools

“The State’s Cybersecurity Pathway for Teens and What is Ahead” will give insight into how the state has adopted a proactive pathway model for teens in 9th through 12th grade that will go into the classroom beginning in this next semester both in Jefferson County Public Schools as well as other school districts across the state.

Kentucky is only the second state to adopt the cyber engineering curricula created by NICERC, a federal agency, thanks to TALK’s effort to bring this curricula to the state and address a workforce demand. Scott and Ryan will explore and define the available IT pathways being used in the classroom, how this impacts the future workforce, and why it is important to see more computer science in our schools in general.

Scott will discuss the new standards committee at the state level to push computer education down into kindergarten and through 12th grade.

Ryan will discuss the schools adopting the pathway and how you, as a professional, can be part of the TALK speaker bureau to come into the classroom for labs, and talks about cybersecurity and other tech talks.

Ryan Deal, Business and IT College and Career Readiness Specialist, Jefferson County Public Schools

->>>—Cybersecurity needs are growing 12 times faster than other professions nationwide and here in KY as well. —>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The time is now to have our youth educated in jobs of the future. Schools in Jefferson County adopting the cyber engineering pathway include: Southern, Seneca, Fairdale, Central, and Ballard High School. Schools in Jefferson County incorporating a portion of the curricula include: ESL Newcomer Academy, Fern Creek, Louisville Manual, and Eastern High School.

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For tickets, go to www.techfestlou.com and order now! $99 per day; $174 for both days.

The Art of Workforce Development

Across pockets of the Bluegrass State, kids of all ages are delving into cool, project-based learning designed to build a future workforce that embraces technology in every facet of corporate growth. [View full story at The Lane Report]

Kentucky’s new Education and Workforce Development Secretary brings both an entrepreneurial background and a school choice advocate’s perspective to the job. And Hal Heiner hopes to push the cabinet to move faster than ever before in preparing students to fuel future growth in the state’s economy.

The Louisville businessman and former Republican gubernatorial candidate appeared on KET’s “One to One” to discuss education issues and Gov. Matt Bevin’s plan to expand workforce training opportunities. [View full story at Insider Louisville]

A Rising Call to Promote STEM Education and Cut Liberal Arts Funding

When the Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin, suggested last month that students majoring in French literature should not receive state funding for their college education, he joined a growing number of elected officials who want to nudge students away from the humanities and toward more job-friendly subjects like electrical engineering. [View full story at The New York Times]

Cyberstates 2016 Report

As TALK is a member of CompTIA and TECNA, please find an interesting Cyberstates report released in March 2016: The 17th annual edition of Cyberstates provides a state-by-state analysis of the size and scope of the U.S. tech industry and tech workforce. [View Report]